


First Frost

by devilinthedetails



Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Childhood, Dreams, Family, Fear, First Frost, Forbidden, Gen, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 22:58:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15011270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails
Summary: As children, Alanna and Thom draw their dreams in the winter's first frost.





	First Frost

First Frost

Alanna couldn’t contain her glee and didn’t want to try when she awakened at daybreak to see the first frost silvering her bedchamber windows. She jumped out from under her covers, and, without bothering to don her satin slippers to protect her toes from the frigid floor or throw on a robe to soften the chilly draft sweeping through the corridors of Trebond castle, dashed across the hallway that separated her room from her twin’s. Since his door was unlocked, she didn’t trouble with pounding on the door and instead barreled into his room, leaping onto his bed in one smooth motion. 

“Thom!” She bounced on his mattress until he stirred. When he pressed a pillow to his ear in a misguided attempt to drown out her shouting, she leaned her head against his, her red hair falling over his, and went on in an imitation of Coram’s full bellow, “The first frost has arrived!” 

“Maude says we must draw our dreams in the frost before it fades if we want our dreams to come true.” Thom’s desire for sleep was forgotten in his fascination at the magic of the first frost according to Trebond’s healer. 

“I’m drawing myself as a knight riding on quests to slay monsters and rescue damsels in distress.” Alanna scrawled the outline of an indecipherable blob on an uninterpretable four-legged creature on the windowpane, the mist of her breath merging with the frost on the glass. Outside the window, she could glimpse the jagged silhouettes of the steep Grimhold Mountains that cradled the wintry gray lake by the ancient stronghold of her family. 

“That’s a wasted wish.” Thom shook his head. “Girls can’t become knights.” 

“Yes, they can.” Alanna’s spine stiffened like the trunks of the pine trees she laughed to climb. “Coram told me there used to be girl knights centuries ago.What’s the difference between now and Coram’s stories?” 

“The difference”—Thom rolled his purple plum eyes at her question—“is that girls were allowed to be knights centuries ago but now they aren’t.” 

“There are always ways around rules.” Alanna pouted as she often did when she discovered that what she wanted was supposed to be forbidden to her. As far as she was concerned, her Trebond stubbornness was no good if it didn’t provide her the power to do whatever she wished. “What are you wishing for if you’re so clever, Thom?” 

“I’m going to be a mage.” Thom’s finger darted across the glass, sketching himself as a sorcerer in rippling robes. “I’ll find a spell to bring the dead back to life so we can meet Mother.” 

“You can’t bring the dead back to life.” Alanna snorted, vexed that he would scoff at her dream as foolish when his was even more far-fetched. “It’s impossible. No spell can awaken the dead.” 

“Who told you that?” Thom’s chin was clenched tight for argument. 

“Father.” Alanna believed her terse pronouncement would silence any debate Thom could offer. Nobody argued with Father when it came to magic, not even Maude. 

“Why would you accept what Father says about magic without questioning when you know how much he hates it and blames it for Mother’s death?” Thom arched an eyebrow at her. 

“No one reads more than Father.” Alanna’s voice had hushed as if some part of her sensed that she was speaking of magic beyond her comprehension best left unexplored. Shivers spiked through her at the thought. “If there was a way to bring Mother back, he would have found it, and if magic could bring Mother back, he wouldn’t hate it so much.” 

“I’ll read more than Father.” Thom’s face was as set in his determination as the stone walls surrounding them. “I’ll find a way to bring Mother back to life for us, I promise, Alanna.” 

Alanna choked when she tried to assure her brother that she didn’t want him meddling in dangerous magic to bring their mother back to them, so she stretched out her hand to clutch his fingers and gasped when she discovered that they were cold as ice from drawing dreams in frost.


End file.
